KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The World Series champions have failed to make the postseason for the fourth year in a row.Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon keyed an eighth-inning rally and Kansas City beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Wednesday night, but the Royals were still knocked out of playoff contention.The defending World Series champs were eliminated when Baltimore beat Toronto 3-2 earlier Wednesday.Obviously wed like to be playing a lot more baseball, but the reality of it is were not, said Eric Hosmer, who hit a two-run homer in the third.Morales ground-rule double to right scored Jarrod Dyson, who had doubled and stole third. Gordons single scored Whit Merrifield and pinch-runner Billy Burns.Dyson said he would not be watching postseason games.Its kind of sad and tough to watch postseason when youre not in it, Dyson said.The Twins, who have lost 10 of 11, have dropped 102 games, tying the 1982 team for its highest total since moving to Minnesota for the 1961 season. The Washington Senators lost a franchise-worst 113 games in 1904.Were trying to win games, but its becoming difficult, Twins right-hander Ervin Santana said. But, I think we just try to do too much and we forgot about the little things. Its a game. You just have to prepare to be better for the next year.Taylor Rogers (3-1), the fourth of five Twins pitchers, took the loss after allowing three runs, three hits and two walks while retiring only one of the six batters he faced.Joakim Soria (5-8) worked a scoreless eighth to pick up the victory. Wade Davis got his 27th save in 30 chances.Royals left-hander Jason Vargas tossed five shutout innings, allowing four hits, striking out six and walking one. He threw 53 strikes in 87 pitches, leaving with a 2-0 lead in his third start since having Tommy John surgery in 2015. Vargas finishes with a 2.25 ERA, allowing three runs and eight hits while striking out 11 and walking three in 12 innings.It was nice to have a reward as far as having some success once I was able to step underneath the lights and really get out there for real, Vargas said. Going into the offseason, I was just hoping for health as far as being able to have the normal offseason. So to have a nice outing like this before is a nice comfortable feeling.Rookie Kevin McCarthy, however, did not hold the lead for long. McCarthy yielded a two-run two-out home run to Kennys Vargas in the sixth. After McCarthy walked the next two batters, Peter Moylan was summoned to face John Ryan Murphy, retiring him on a comebacker.The Vargas homer snapped a Twins streak of 106 innings without more than one run. According to Elias, it is the longest such streak in the majors since the Philadelphia Phillies went 109 innings in 1942 without scoring multiple runs.We just kind of stagnated from there, Twins manager Paul Molitor said.Hosmer hit a two-run homer, his 25th, off Santana in the third. The Royals did not get another hit until Dysons one-out double in the eighth.NO REPEATThe Royals follow the San Francisco Giants (in 2013 and 15) and Boston Red Sox (in 2014) in failing to reach the playoffs after winning the World Series.ATTENDANCE DECLINEThe Wednesday attendance of 23,437 pushed the Royals season total to 2,445,361 after 77 home dates. After 77 Kauffman Stadium dates last year, the Royals had pulled 2,564,750 through the turnstiles, a decline of 119,389.ZERO AT KCThe Twins dropped to 0-9 at Kauffman Stadium. They have never finished a season winless at Kansas City.TRAINERS ROOMTwins: 1B Joe Mauer (hamstring injury) was not in the lineup, but Molitor said he was available to pinch hit.Royals: OF Lorenzo Cain, who has played only one game in September because of left wrist inflammation, will not play again this season. There is no need to push him, Royals manager Ned Yost said.UP NEXTTwins: RHP Kyle Gibson, who went to the University of Missouri, will make his 11th career start against the Royals.Royals: LHP Danny Duffy is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in three outings against the Twins this season. Swell Flaske Tilbud . Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League. Swell Flaske Liberty . Then the Pacers gave Oladipo and his Orlando teammates the cold shoulder. Paul Georges buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter spurred a 21-4 run, finally sending Indiana past the Magic 97-87 in a tougher-than-expected opening night matchup. http://www.swellflaskenorge.com/swell-flaske-marmor.html . -- Josh Sterk scored once and set up two more as the Oshawa Generals edged the visiting Belleville Bulls 3-2 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Swell Bottle Norge . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization. Swell Bottle Butikk .H. -- Matt Kenseth made it 2 for 2 in the Chase, holding off teammate Kyle Busch to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Umeshs use of the creaseIn the first over of the day Umesh Yadav showed hes constantly evolving as a bowler. Hes not only clocking speeds in the high 140kph range consistently but also using the crease quite well. Usually he bowls from the middle of the box but in the first over today, he went to the corner of the crease and also came closer to the stumps. The idea behind using the crease is to create new angles and therefore sow the seeds of doubt.Are modern helmets ideal for keeping?The helmets used in cricket are manufactured to protect the batsman and are designed from a batsmans perspective. A batsman isnt required to look up or down but a wicketkeeper is, for in the wicketkeeping stance he is required to look up and on other occasions forced to look down as well. In terms of both comfort and visibility, the modern helmet isnt meant to be worn by the wicketkeeper. Time to manufacture a wicketkeepers helmet?Left-arm spin to Stokes?The pitch has held up really well thus far, and the business areas havent disintegrated one bit. The only area of concern was the footmarks on the far end but those too were only likely to bother the left-hander. Surprisingly, Ben Stokes numbers against left-arm spinners arent great - in the two Tests in Bangladesh, he was out to left-arm spin in all four innings - and therefore it might not have been a bad idea to start with Jadeja and target the rough outside his off stump. India chose to operate with fast bowlers instead and by the time Jadeja got into action, Stokes had already made a strong start to the day. No substitute for paceOnce a batsman gets set on Indian pitches, theres noot much a fast bowler can do to dislodge him, for theres no help from the surface.dddddddddddd Even if theres reverse-swing available, its not as lethal unless you have extra pace. To produce a wicket-taking ball, you need extra pace, and thats where Umesh was sensational. He beat a well-set Bairstow with extra pace, for that accentuated the reverse-swing. This Indian team is blessed to have two fast bowlers who bowl at over 140kph consistently and thats why they have been able to contribute in this home season.Broads leg-cuttersThe ball that dismissed KL Rahul highlighted Stuart Broads ability to bowl cutters. He pushed the ball inwards a little more while putting a little more pressure with the index finger to get away movement off the pitch. Anderson also did something similar to Vijay and then to dismiss Pujara. While Indian seamers have bowled quicker, Anderson and Broad have found more lateral movement off the pitch on this docile pitch. In fact, there are few like Anderson and Broad in the world.There was a time when almost every Indian fast bowler used to bowl cutters, since they honed their craft on matting surfaces. But as cricket moved to turf pitches, the reliance on cutters reduced dramatically and that reflects in the Indian fast bowlers of this era.The data clearly shows how much Englands fast bowlers emphasised the use of cutters. Ben Stokes, Anderson and Broad achieved average deviations off the pitch of 0.65°, 0.58° and 0.53°, while Shami managed just 0.11° and Umesh 0°. ' ' '
